Unstable fractures of the spine. Surgical methods. Synthesis of the injured dorso-lumbar spine by plates screwed into vertebral pedicles.

The reduction of spinal fractures requires a combination of aith and reason. Faith is needed, as the goal of the 20th cenury orthopaedic surgeon is to restore full integrity to the patient. aith must be combined with reason, to ensure that the reduction rocedure is safe for the spinal cord and nerve roots. Reducion should be followed by stable fixation. When the indications re determined with discernment and the procedure conducted ethodically, surgery, an aggressive act that should always be mitgated by experience, now allows the reduction and stabilisation f spinal dislocations and, in the event of neurological comproise, ensures that the patient is in the best possible conditions for ecovery.